Guest Author - Kirsten Olsen-Keyser
Resident Evil is loosely based on the 1996 Play Station video game series of the same name. George Romero was originally set to direct the film in 1999 but Sony and Capcom disapproved his script and hired Paul Anderson in his stead. Anderson’s credits previous to Resident Evil included Soldier, Mortal Kombat and Event Horizon, three films that had met with much negative criticism.
In an underground science lab known as The Hive, the experimental T-Virus has been unleashed with deadly consequences. Originally developed to reverse the effects of aging , the Umbrella Corporation has intentions of using the virus to create the ultimate soldier. Unfortunately, the virus destroys its victim’s cells degenerating their flesh, destroying the frontal lobe and reducing the victim to a zombified state with an insatiable hunger. With the virus loose, The Red Queen - a supercomputer supervising The Hive - seals the facility killing everyone inside.
It is up to Alice (Milla Jovovich) and Rain (Michelle Rodriguez) to lead a crack team of commandos in order to save those they can and contain the virus. Little do they know, there is no one to save and those who appear to be dead, reanimate into blood thirsty zombies.
While not the most cerebral movie, Resident Evil does a great job of scaring the pants off the viewer with thrills and chills around every corner. Anderson steals from the best - Aliens, Night of the Living Dead - and the not so great - Deep Blue Sea and Ghosts of Mars - and manages to mesh together an unoriginal, but marginally entertaining script. Thankfully, the film is packed with high tech effects, weaponry, and gun shot blasts scored by the industrial grind of Marilyn Manson. Much like a typical sci-fi/ horror flick, our heroes drop like flies in a myriad of disgusting and inventive ways.
While perhaps not destined to win an Oscar anytime soon, Jovovich is marvelous as a butt kicking super heroine. Clad in a ripped red dress and black boots, she appeals to both sexes with her seductive glare and tough gal attitude. Rodriguez only furthers her typecasting as the shallow, one dimensional and brooding Rain.
Resident Evil has enough references to the original game to make fans happy. Anderson also added elements of Alice in Wonderland, from white rabbits in the science lab to the main character of Alice, to the Red Queen and beheadings. At the end of a long day of zombie blasting, Resident Evil delivers enough brains to make it worthy of B-movie status.
Director: Paul Anderson
Writer: Paul Anderson
MPAA Rating: R for graphic violence and language
